The Wings of Dreams

Seisai alone for a few minutes.
    Gankyuu said, as if privy to these thoughts, “I think, in general, that’s what one person chancing across another is all about.”
    “Though I don’t think it was so important who Shushou met. Had it been somebody other than me, that connection would have become equally important.”
    “I suppose there must be others around as whimsical as you.”
    “But if you weren’t there, Gankyuu, it’s hard to imagine how things would have turned out.” Gankyuu stared back at him. Rikou smiled. “You’re a koushu, quite out of my class. I expect you’re going to have a hard time grasping where guys like me are coming from too.”
    Gankyuu chuckled. “Huh. You really think so?”
    Rikou smiled again. “That is the response of a person refusing the possibility of comprehension. Sans explanations, there’s no way to say whether you understand or not.”
    “You’re saying I’m narrow-minded.”
    “I wouldn’t go that far. Koushu empathize with the feelings of other koushu. That’s no less true for everybody else. As a general rule, if it didn’t happen to you, you’re not going to get it. At the same time, though, there are also those words that reject comprehension while casting aspersions on those who don’t understand.”
    Gankyuu sank into silence.
    “Shushou wants to understand you. ”
    “I don’t think she ever will.”
    “And you couldn’t be bothered to offer an explanation?”
    “That’s not what I mean.”
    “Or perhaps you didn’t want her to get you from the start. Or feared her not getting you even after the explanation.”
    Gankyuu sighed. “That’s not it.”
    “Hmm?”
    “What I don’t get is all these people who think a king is important to a kingdom and want one so bad they’re willing to go on the Shouzan.”
    Rikou nodded and said with a wry smile. “That could indeed stand in the way of a mutual understanding.”
    Gankyuu had no more to add. Rikou kept any further thoughts to himself. No fires burned in the scattered campsites. The people scattered here and there wrapped the dark and quiet around them like a heavy quilt and stayed up through the night.

    At the break of dawn, after the skies had brightened sufficiently, the koushu came to their feet and made ready to travel. Sullenly and silently, Gankyuu did the same, strapping the packs to the back of his haku. That was when Kinhaku approached him.
    “Gankyuu—”
    Gankyuu looked up to see Chodai at Kinhaku’s shoulder.
    “Shushou—”
    “The little brat’s not here. She dismissed me, don’t you know.”
    “I know,” Chodai interrupted. “She left with Kiwa.”
    “Figures.”
    “Last night, Kiwa cleared the trees out of the way and continued along the road.”
    Gankyuu shot Chodai a startled look. Chodai nodded. Kinhaku frowned.
    “It seems that old rich man couldn’t bear to part with his wagon. He set out at daybreak. He can go wherever he feels like, except the girl went with him. You okay with that?
    “She could say she was throwing her life away and I’d tell her to get on with it. I’m no longer in her employ. She’s got nothing to do with me.”

Part Four
Chapter 24
    [4-1]  S hushou grumbled aloud, “To start with, he kept insisting that I just wouldn’t understand. I can’t stand being treated like a little idiot.”
    Kiwa responded with an exaggerated nod. “That certainly is an unbecoming attitude. You are anything but an ordinary child, Shushou. Ordinary children certainly do not go on the Shouzan.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Well, that’s corpse hunters for you. In a word, cynics. They claim to be koushu as their birthright but some of them were born in Kyou. You never hear about them going on the Shouzan. For that matter, I’ve never heard of a koushu becoming emperor, either.”
    “Koushu are raised in the Yellow Sea since they’re children, so they’re not going to understand how the outside world works. And I’m not a koushu. It goes both ways, though. A koushu won’t understand what it means to grow up as a merchant’s daughter either. And yet they go on like they know everything. They’re all Miss this and Miss that. Not like they mean it. I can hear the scorn in their voices. But if they’re going to insist that only koushu can understand koushu, then I will insist that they can’t understand me unless they were born into the household of a wealthy merchant.”
    “You’re exactly right. It’s a small man who cannot grasp the needs of